Movies Are Just Entertainment!!!

So I had a debate today about Monique winning her Oscar. They were saying black folks ONLY get Oscars for negative roles and the "recipient" or "viewers" should not be happy or overjoyed by the win. That kind of hit a nerve. First of all there have been plenty of wins and nominations for non negative characters such as Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Jamie Foxx (Ray) and Denzel Washngton(Glory)just to name a few. But they forget about those and only dwell on the negative. Yes Denzel has also won for "Training Day" instead of (Malcolm X) or (Hurricane) but who cares which movie it was for he still has two! That's power! Do you know how many doors that has opened up for other African Americans to be in the runnings to win? There has been more Oscar noms and wins in the past decade then the whole 82 years of the award show. That's growth and a obvious switch in generations. I am not saying take what we can get but a few years ago Monique was on a reality show "Charm School". She has redefined some things and quick, because reality shows are the bottom of the totem pole in Hollywood.

Because of trailblazers like Oprah, Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels the opportunities don't look as slim, we can go around the obstacles and create our own production companies and or get films green-lit easier because we have been accepted into the exclusive club of Hollywood. We have stories to tell rather it be negative or positive!

I bet if Hannibal was played by a black man versus Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar for it, black folks would be complaining about that too! I think it is so sad that we diminish such a big achievement by negativity.

Movies are purely entertainment... with a message sometimes if we are lucky. We have a black President and First Lady. That's reality. So worrying how the world views us based on a movie is pure kaka. The majority of foreigners will probably not see this film anyways. I would be more worried about who our children look up to, like rappers who can barely speak english or the reality shows they watch on a daily basis where girls are beating each other up and/or promiscuous with 15 people all for the love of whoever. That's more harmful then anything to a young girls self esteem.

We have overcome so much as African Americans and I am so proud of us. For the people that always got something to complain about, do us a favor and get in the film industry and bring us better stories! Don't just talk about it. Be the change you want to see...